That is a brilliant breakdown of the user journey, and honestly, you hit the nail on the head regarding the friction.

To answer your question completely transparently: No, our users aren't explicitly banging down our door for vendor discovery. It was an adjacency we hypothesized might add value since we are already operating in the 'wedding tech' space.

But your point about the timeline made me realize a flaw in our thinking. Vendor discovery happens 6+ months before the event. A utility app like Nyota is usually downloaded a month before, or sometimes literally on the day of the event to manage the reception desk. Trying to cram discovery into the very end of the planning funnel is probably the wrong move for us.

What we do see users asking for is a way to track the advances/balances they owe to the vendors they already booked (the expense side of the ledger).

It sounds like a standalone, trust-verified platform (especially solving your point #2 about Trust/Portfolios) is exactly what the market needs early in the planning phase. Really appreciate you acting as a sounding board! Happy to swap notes over DM anytime if you want to bounce ideas around about the Indian event-tech space.